anorexia-cachexia syndrome
a systemic response to conditions such as cancer or the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, resulting from a poorly understood relationship between anorexia and cachexia, manifested by malnutrition, weight loss, muscular weakness, acidosis, and toxemia. The anorexia may be caused by a severe metabolic disturbance that contributes to development of cachectic wasting, which in turn reinforces anorexia by release from a tumor of a humoral product that stimulates the satiety center in the hypothalamus.
Medical dictionary.
2011.